The main goal of this dissertation is to explore alternative economic indicators to GDP. The paper also analyses whether GDP is able to capture the development of a society's welfare, and whether different indicators can show other results about the development of national economy. After an introductory description of GDP, the paper outlines the core limits of this indicator. Following this is a discussion of happiness economics and Easterlin's paradox. The paper then goes on to explore the subject of alternative indicators in more detail. In the final chapter, five selected alternative indicators are analyzed, and compared with GDP using the USA's economy as an example. In conclusion, the paper evaluates the usefulness of these alternative indicators and finds that alternative indicators give a different perspective on national economy than GDP.

In recent decades, economists are gradually showing their interests in the study of happiness. They even put forward some challenges to the traditional theories. In contrast, studies on Chinese happiness problem are not enough in terms of breadth and depth.  This paper used the data provided by China General Social Survey to conduct an empirical analysis. The model author adopted is Ordered Discrete Choice model. In the empirical section, author analyzed the impact of income, macroeconomic variables, etc.  Ultimately, based on the empirical results, author proposed some policy recommendations and further study suggestions.

This thesis within Industrial Economics and Applied Mathematics investigates the relationship between economic development and subjective well-being. The Easterlin Paradox, originally stated by Richard Easterlin in 1974, is reassessed by utilizing cross-sectional and time series data. A simple regression model is applied, using average happiness within a country as dependent variable, and gross national product per capita as regressor. In addition, an extensive study of previous research is conducted, focusing on reliability of data and earlier methodologies. The Easterlin Paradox is confirmed to still be valid when analyzing the United States over the time period 1972{2016, and 140 of the countries across the world 2012. / Det här kandidatexamensarbetet inom Industriell Ekonomi och Tillämpad Matematik undersöker relationen mellan ekonomisk utveckling och subjektivt välmående. Easterlinparadoxen, ursprungligen fastställd av Richard Easterlin 1974, omprövas med hjälp av tvärsnitts- och tidsseriedata. En enkel linjär regressionsmodell appliceras med genomsnittlig lycka i ett land som beroende variabel och bruttonationalprodukt per capita som oberoende variabel. Dessutom utförs en omfattande studie av tidigare forskning med fokus på tillförlitlighet av data samt tidigare metodologier. Easterlinparadoxen bekräftas fortfarande gälla vid analys av USA over tidsperioden 1972-2016, och 140 av världens länder år 2012.